Being Kept On Hold – Britain’s Greatest Tolerance Test

New research from Tile, the world’s leading smart location trackers, has revealed that time-wasting is the UK’s number one greatest bug bear.

The top five time-wasting gripes are:

Being kept on hold on the phone

Being stuck in traffic or waiting for delayed public transport

Queuing

Waiting for friends and family who are running late

Looking for lost or misplaced items

The average person spends 10 minutes a day looking for their misplaced items, and Brits have admitted that they resent that wasted time. It’s also left them in a serious state of lateness, as well as incurring the wrath of those around us.

29% of Brits said they have missed a flight/train/bus, while over a quarter (27%) admitted to being late into work. The delay has caused an argument for 1 in 10 (15%) people, whilst another 1 in 10 (12%) people even forgot to pick up their children from school.

Technology, like Tile, can help people save those 10 minutes every day. When asked what they would do with that saved time, almost a third (32%) said they’d try to fit in some elusive exercise, 29% of house-proud Brits said they would spend it catching up on chores, whilst 17% said they would spend more time with their children.

When asked what they would do for others with that time, 27% said they would call on their parents or grandparents, 25% would offer to pick up shopping for an elderly neighbour, and 21% said they would try to feed those homeless on the street.

Peter Groom, EMEA Sales Director at Tile said: “With so many commitments in both our digital and real lives, we’re increasingly being pushed for time. As a result, we have lost the one thing us Brits are known for – our patience. The research revealed that a matter of minutes wasted looking for lost items or waiting for a train is enough to have us seething with resentment.

One of our biggest gripes is misplacing our items and wasting time trying to relocate it. Luckily, technology in the form of location trackers can come to the rescue for time-poor Brits. Tile is a particularly clever gadget that can be attached to the most commonly misplaced items – phones, wallets and keys – so we know where they are at all times and can sound an alert should they be misplaced to dramatically cut down the time we spend searching for them. For items that are lost or stolen, the wider Tile community can be alerted as well to increase the likelihood of being reunited with our treasured items. And with the time saved, it’s clear Brits want to put the time to good use. We’re encouraged that so many people would do acts of kindness as opposed to thinking of themselves, and that people are keen to give back to loved ones and the community.”

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:
The research was conducted by 3Gem and involved 1,000 UK adults

About Tile
Tile gives everything the power of smart location. Tile’s devices, network and mobile app work together to help people locate the things that matter to them most. Tile’s community spans 230 countries and territories and helps people locate over three million items every day. The Tile Platform makes it possible for other companies to embed smart location into their own products. The company is based in Silicon Valley and is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, GGV Capital and Khosla Ventures. Tile is a top seller in retail stores and is sold online around the world. For more information, please visit Tile.com.

How it works
With Tile you can locate your item via the Tile app on select iOS or Android phones. You can also use your Tile to find your phone:

Locate by sound – Ring your Tile from the app or double press your Tile to ring your phone – even on silent.

Last place seen – The app always shows the last time and place it saw your Tile. Simply open the app to view the map.

Community Find – If your Tile moved location since the app last saw it, tap the Notify When Found button in the app. This will securely and anonymously put all other Tile apps on the lookout for your Tile. You’ll receive an alert when another Tiler comes within range of your item. We call this feature Community Find.